DREAMING WHILE YOU SLEEP
By: John Brengman
Inspired
by a song of the same name
by
Genesis
Benjamin Flanagan drove through the rain
storm that had started to assault the city at about dusk. It was one of those
late March rains that could turn an evening drive into a hellishly dangerous
adventure as pools formed on the road and sheets of water slammed into the
windshield, turning usually familiar surroundings into a swirling maze. Despite
all this, Benjamin drove steadily onward through the torrent.
Benjamin Flanagan was an angry man.
He was married, and the relationship had
turned as sour as the weather because he had found her in bed with another man.
They had a long, drawn-out argument, in which he did most of the yelling, and
she did most of the crying. Then they both stormed out ofthe house, he to the
comfort of his sports car and the release of tensions that a drive would bring,
even if it was in the pouring rain, and she to the company of a friend who
lived a few blocks away.
It was now about 10 pm and the
slow-moving storm continued to drench the small city. Benjamin was beginning to
feel tired, so he turned his car around and started home. As he drove through
the downpour, he became lost in thought. Marriage was something that should
last forever; it should surely be able to outlast an affair. Other marriages
had proven to be stronger than this kind of adversity. Benjamin became
determined to make his marriage work, to forgive his wife, and to go forward
from there.
As he drew near an intersection, a shadow
drifted from the dimly-lit curb and into the street. He didn't see it until it
was
brightly illuminated
by the car's headlights. There was no time to react. The car slammed into the
pedestrian with a sickening THUD which sent it over the hood, onto, then over
the windshield, and onto the top of the car before it dropped to the
rain-soaked road.
Benjamin stopped the car, horrified by
the sight of a face on the windshield and the streaks of blood that were being
washed away by the clensing rain. He slammed his foot on the accelerator and
the car roared off into the night.
Once Benjamin got home, he was greeted by
the sight of the deserted house. As he opened the front door, a flood of
darkness reached out and drew him in. Even after he had turned on a lamp that
sat on a end table near the door, the darkness retreated, but was not
vanquished entirely. An invisible mist of loneliness pervaded the room,
catching his heart in a vise-like grip of fear. The face on the windshield
looked back at him with a blank stare in his mind's eye......his wife.
Benjamin went into the bedroom, closed
the door, and sat down on the bed, which was still unmade from the evening's
earlier activities. His wife and the stranger had made love here a few hours
ago...but all he could see now was his wife's body laying face-down in the
street.
After flicking on the table lamp, he
reached over and picked up a bottle of sleeping pills, dumped most of the
contents of the full bottle into his hand. He slammed the pills into his mouth
and then drowned them down with the glass of water that he always kept on the
nightstand.
Benjamin didn't bother to undress. He
turned out the light and laid down on the bed without covering himself, but he
couldn't force the image of his wife's body laying in the street from his mind,
and her face in the windshield haunted his thoughts.
He sat up. He found himself plagued by
his wife, the affair she had been having, the resulting argument, her face in
the windshield, the passionate love-making they had shared the night before. He
looked around at the bed and found it disgusting. He could not sleep here; he
would be reminded of all of the things which kept going through his mind. However,
once he had decided to sleep in the living room, he found that he could not do
that either. The bed which reminded him of his wife's death also reminded him
of the love the two of them had shared. So he went back into the bedroom, layed
down on the floor, and fell into a murky sleep.
Benjamin sped down the road in the dead
of night, his sports car glittering, the headlights impaling the
rain-fillednight, illuminating the road, yet not quite banishing the dark.
A mile marker passed by...... 59 miles.
He drove blindly down the road...the
miles sped past. Looking down at the electronic speedometer, he saw it blink
back at him.....55 mph. and he eased off the pedal. Each cornfield that passed
him blended into the next like sleeping waves of grass on slumbering hills.
A billboard flew by in the night. On it
were pictures of tents, clowns, elephants, lions, and bears. Above them all
stood the ringmaster in a black tuxedo and a big red bow tie. The ringmaster
announced in bold black words across the top of the picture:
"WELCOME TO THE PALESTINE COUNTY
CIRCUS
APRIL
16 - 20....."
The rain continued to fall in a
drizzle-like spray. The headlights danced through it, the windshield was
assaulted by it. The constant sound of the falling rain began to wear on
Benjamin's nerves. Reaching to the radio, he pressed a button and immersed
himself in the music that emanated from the car's stereo speakers. Once the
song ended, the DJ came on the air.
"It's now 11 o'clock....time for the
news. Police are still searching for the suspect of a fatal auto accident on
Stuart Avenue. Mrs. Kathleen Flanagan was found laying face-down in the street
after being hit by a car. Police are searching for her husband, Mr. Benjamin
Flanagan, who is wanted for questioning in this matter."
The voice paused, then: "Come on,
Ben, we know you did it! Why don't you quit running and turn yourself in?"
Benjamin quickly reached over and turned the radio off, grateful now for the
silence that ensued afterwords.
A mile marker passed by......59 miles.
As he passed the marker, a feeling of
deja-vu seeped over Benjamin. Then the billboard appeared from the
darkness....along with the lions, elephants, bears, tents and ringmaster.....
"WELCOME TO THE PALESTINE COUNTY
CIRCUS
APRIL
16 - 20.....
COME TO THE PALESTINE COUNTY CIRCUS
HOME OF BENJAMIN, THE WONDEROUS WIFE
KILLER!!!"
Benjamin suddenly was scared. He then
caught sight of the speedometer ....57....59....61....63....65....68....71....
The road flew by blindingly fast and the
reflectors were only sparks at the side of the raod when the headlights flicked
off them.
....85....90....95.... Benjamin sat stunned
as the speed continued to climb....105....113....121.... He began to see smoke
from the tires. Soon the speed got to the point where Benjamin was forced back
in his seat....140....151....162....
It now seemed like the car was in flight.
Dips in the road could not be noticed. Benjamin slammed his foot down on the
brakes, but the car kept accelerating....185....198....213....
The engine was a roar in Benjamin's ears.
His hadns fell from the steering wheel, but the wheel didn't move. He tried to
turn the wheel even though success would mean instant death, but the wheel
refused to move....250....269....288.... He began to notice a dull pain in his
chest, but he was too scared to care....
A hand touched Benjamin's shoulder. It was
a soft delicate touch that Benjamin wouldn't have noticed through his fear-filled attention to the road that blurred
past him except that the smell of perfume wafted through the air.....
Stealing a glance at the passenger seat,
Benjamin saw his wife sitting there, apparently oblivious to the fact that the
sports car was doing a three-digit speed down the road. She smiled and clasped
his right hand in hers. Drawing herself nearer to him, she whispered,
"I've missed you."
""I've missed you too."
The words formed on his lips, but Benjamin was too confused and frightened to
give them any more substance. He was mesmerized. His wife looked as beautiful
as she had when they were first married, which had been ten years ago. They
were both in their late 20s, and while he looked his age, she still looked like
she was sixteen. Her blonde hair fell a little past her shoulders in lazy
waves. Her slim body was outlined by her favorite dress...a blue silk-like
dress that he had given her on their first wedding anniversary. She had a look
of ecstasy on her face, a smile.....and her eyes were closed as though she were
enjoying the rapture of the moment...
She leaned closer to Benjamin and gave
him a peck on the cheek. "I love you." She said.
He heard himself reply, "I love you
too."
"We're going to be together
again....."
Through the haze in his mind, he replied,
"Yes." All thoughts of the speeding car and the blurring road
vanished as he stared at the woman he loved. She pressed herself against him
and kissed him, her tongue darting into his mouth, exploring the crevices it
found there. She broke off the kiss long enough to murmur: "We'll be
together forever." He lazily nodded his agreement.
"Good," she replied, and
returned to kissing him. Their tongues danced and probed into the deep recesses
of their mouths. Benjamin fell back in his seat. His wife leaned forward and
their mouths remained locked together.
Suddenly Benjamin felt his wife's had
clench around his, getting tighter and tighter. When he lifted his hand up, he
saw that his wife's hand was black, shriveled, and......dead-looking. The blackness
that covered her hand and lower arm spread quickly until it covered her entire
body.
Her dress now hung limply off of her
twisted frame. Her hair was thin and white, and her skin was as black as pitch.
As he pulled away from her face he saw a trickle of bright red blood dribbling
from her mouth. Her eyes were still closed as she grinned an evil, toothy grin.
"What's the matter, Ben?" She
hissed. "Don't you like my face?" Benjamin managed to shake his head.
She gave a ghostly whine. "But why?
I try SO hard to make myself look nice for you. I guess you don't appreciate me
enough!" With that, she squeezed his hand harder and Benjamin screamed
with agony as several bones in his hand shattered. The pain in his chest
gradually grew to match it.
"You'd better learn to appreciate me
more, Ben! After all, we'll be together forever!" She cackled wickedly.
"It's part of that marriage vow, Ben!" She seemed to be able to stare
deep into his soul, even though she still had her eyes closed. "You know,"
she screeched, "for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.....'til
DEATH do us part!!"
His "wife", laughing insanely,
quickly turned her head toward Benjamin, leaned toward him even as he struggled
to get away, and opened her eyes.....
Benjamin felt himself being drawn into
her eyes. They were pools of fire which seemed to rest on boiling water. Her
demonic laughter echoed in his head as the flames burned his skin and the water
scalded him. Fire seemed to erupt from his chest, searing all of him from head
to toe....
"'TIL DEATH DO US PART!!!!!" The
demoness screamed.
With that, the steering wheel jerked
slightly and the sports car, which had been careening at over 300 mph, exploded
into a towering inferno as it impaled itself on a telephone pole which somehow
did not shatter with the force of the impact.
As the column of orange-red flame rose
into the air, the wind itself seemed to be whispering: "'til death do us
part.....'till death do us part....."